The Urchin

A gastro pub and microbrewery, this place is a wonderful shabby-chic, Farrow ‘n Ball diamond in the rough of a slightly gritty side road behind Tesco (street urchin as much as sea urchin?). You really mustn’t let that put you off, though. Once inside, or indeed in the strangely calming gardeny bit, it’s all scrubbed tables, sauce-smeared smiles and the occasional fantastic event like an oyster feast or crawfish boil.

It’s impossible for me to decide between the simple raw oyster with mignonette or its crispy chilli co-worker to kick things off. So I never do, I have both. They are Jersey Rocks which, if you’ve trawled through my forensic analysis of the bivalve, you’ll know work well both live and kicking (in a kinda odd monopedal way) and cooked. I’ve also sampled a starter of fried squid and a nice potted-crab thingy served with cubes of citrus jelly (a well-judged textural counterpoint) and a little tangle of caper-flecked remoulade.

For the main event, I always promise myself that I will have one of their impressive crustace (whole crab or lobster) brought steaming to the table dripping in seaweed butter or whatever they have dreamt up that week. However, I have now resigned myself to the fact that I will never make it past their Malaysian Prawns. What arrives when you order them, and you must, is a fabulous copper contraption rather like a wok with hinged lid (perfect for discarded shells). There’s probably a Malaysian term for it but the Portuguese call it, or something similar, a cataplana*. Opening this thingamabob, you are met with plump prawinness bathing quietly in a liquor of deep umami joy. The spicing is note perfect: warm, fragrant, utterly intoxicating. The lentil-flecked sauce is so good you’ll need a spoon, some of their good bread and a side order of fries to mop and slurp it all up.

The well-tended wine list will offer you a perfect fish-friendly Croatian Malvazija, likewise a Verdicchio (Matelica, ie the other one, not dei Castelli di Jesi). The cunning Urchins have also bagged one of Larry Cherubino’s Apostrophe Stone's Throw blends from down under. This one’s an unusual Riesling/Gewürztraminer. I haven’t tried it yet, I was too distracted by the Verdicchio, but a citrus/rose combo is just made for the spiciness of those heavenly prawns.

* full credit to my Portugal correspondent for the insider track on their trad cooking equipment.